Cinnabar Powder

Pattern-based

• Withdrawal-mania with wild speech and running about
• Souls not keeping their guard with sleeplessness
• Mania in which no medicine has worked

Biomedical correlates

• Acute mania with insomnia
• Refractory agitated psychosis

Donguibogam 東醫寶鑑

治諸癲狂, 狂言妄走, 魂魄不守, 不得睡臥. 辰砂(須光明墻壁者) 一兩, 酸棗仁(微炒)ㆍ乳香(光瑩者) 各五錢. 右爲細末. 先量病人飮酒幾何, 置病人靜室中, 以前藥都作一服, 調溫酒一盞, 令頓飮至沉醉, 但勿令吐. 若不能飮, 隨量取醉. 服藥訖, 便安置床枕令臥. 病淺者半日至一日, 病深者三兩日熟睡. 令家人潛伺之, 勿喚覺, 亦不可驚觸使覺, 待其自醒卽神魂定矣. 萬一驚悟, 不可復治. 《綱目》 ○一僧忽患癲疾, 不得眠臥, 諸藥不效. 孫兆曰, 今夜睡着, 明後日便愈也. 但有醎物任與師吃, 待渴却來道. 至夜僧果渴, 孫以溫酒一角調藥一服與之. 有頃再索酒, 與之半角. 其僧兩晝夜乃覺, 人事如故. 人問其故, 孫曰, 衆人能安神矣, 而不能使神昏得睡. 此乃靈苑方中辰砂散也, 人不能用之耳. 《綱目》

Translation

Treats every withdrawal-mania with wild speech and running about, the souls not keeping their guard, and no sleep. Cinnabar (it must be the bright translucent wall kind), 1 nyang; spiny jujube seed (lightly stir-fried) and frankincense (the bright clear kind), 5 don each. Powder them fine. First measure how much wine the patient can drink; put him in a quiet room, make the whole of the above into one dose stirred into a cup of warm wine, and have him drink it off until he is dead drunk — but do not let him vomit. If he cannot drink, take him to drunkenness according to his measure. When he has taken the medicine, settle him on a bed with a pillow and let him lie. One of shallow illness sleeps half a day to a day, one of deep illness two or three days. Have the household watch him secretly; do not call him awake, and do not startle or touch him into waking, but wait until he wakes of himself, and then the spirit and soul are settled. If by any chance he is startled awake, he cannot be treated again. A monk fell suddenly into withdrawal disease and could not sleep, and no medicine had any effect. Son Jo said: tonight he will fall asleep, and the day after tomorrow he will be well. Only give the master whatever salty things there are to eat, and when he is thirsty come and tell me. By night the monk was indeed thirsty, and Son stirred one dose of the medicine into a measure of warm wine and gave it him. After a while he asked for wine again, and was given half a measure. The monk woke after two days and nights, and was himself as before. When asked how, Son said: everyone can quiet the spirit, but they cannot make the spirit cloud over and get sleep. This is the Cinnabar Powder of the Lingyuanfang, and people simply cannot use it. — Gangmok 綱目 (Donguibogam · Sin)